Rebecca Adlington shattered the oldest world record on the books to claim a second gold medal at the Water Cube in Beijing, her 8mins 14.10sec victory in the 800m freestyle making the 19-year-old from Mansfield the most successful British swimmer in modern Olympic history.

The world record had stood at 8:16.22 to the legendary American Janet Evans since August 20, 1989. It was the last global standard to survive from the last millenium. No British woman has ever lifted two titles, while 1908 marks the last time that a man was able to do so, Henry Taylor taking three gold medals at a home Games in London.

"I can't believe it, I went out so quick. It's fantastic that all the hard work over the years has paid off, I'm so pleased," Adlington said.

"I was expecting it to be a tough final, Bill [Furniss - coach] and I decided the race plan was to swim my own race, although I did expect there to be more of a battle. When I realised I was on my own I just went for it. I couldn't have done it without my mum and dad, it was fantastic that they were finally here, we met in the athlete's lodge yesterday and it was great to see them. I'm now having some time off to spend with my family and boyfriend, then back in the pool in October. I'm so happy."

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On Monday, Adlington lifted the 400m crown to become the first British woman since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960 to reach the top of the Olympic podium in the pool. Lonsbrough was also the last to hold a world record in an Olympic event. Up in the media stands, the 1960 champion said: "I'm delighted that the records I held for being 'the last British woman to ...' are finally gone - and they could not have gone to a more lovely or deserving athlete."

When Kelly Holmes won two golds on the track, she was showered with honours. Will it be Dame Becky by Christmas? The odds on the teenager lifting the BBC Sports Personality Award shortened as soon as Adlington broke away from main rivals Camelia Potec, of Romania, and Alessia Filippi, of Italy, at the 150m mark. By 400m, she had established a clear lead and was 2.20sec inside Evan's world record pace. Her metronomic excellence was never in question from that point as Adlington opened up a stretch of clear blue water that left no room for her rivals to hope that they could come back at her at the end.

Adlington's victory made her the fifth woman to win the 400m and 800m double after four Americans: Debbie Meyer (1968), Tiffany Cohen (1984), Evans (1988) and Brooke Bennett (2000). Britain has not celebrated two gold medals in the pool since London 1908.

Earlier, Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal of these games, in the 100 metres butterfly, equalling the record set by Mark Spitz, another American swimming great, in Munich 36 years ago. Phelps, however, did not have things all his own way and his perfect record seemed certain to end as he only turned in fourth place.

The man from Baltimore closed down on Milorad Cavic down the final length and as the Serbian groped to find the finish, Phelps stole victory by the narrowest of margins, with Andrew Lauterstein of Australia in third.

THE ADLINGTON TIMEWARP

100m: 59.37sec — Adlington is a fingernail from the speed in which Johnny "Tarzan" Weissmuller won his first Olympic 100m freestyle title. The average pace of each subsequent 100m is faster than the time in which Australian sprint legend Dawn Fraser won the first of her three crowns, in 1956.

200m: 2:01.32 — Adlington would have made the final of the straight 200m at every Games up to and including Atlanta in 1996

400m: 4:05.72 — Adlington would have won the silver medal in the straight 400m at the 2004 Games in Athens in a time that is 2sec faster than the speed at which Mark Spitz held the men's 400m world record in 1968

800m: 8:14.10 — Adlington is the first British woman to hold a world record in an Olympic event since 1960. Her time breaks the oldest record on the books, the 8:16.ss set by Janet Evans (USA) when the 2008 Olympic champion was six months old.